"To be on the medal stand with two other Americans when the Star Spangled Banner was playing and the three U.S. flags were going up was breathtaking," Brown said via telephone.

Farris and Brown, both 18, each moved up a medal from their finish at the 2012 junior worlds.

Brown's free skate received positive grades on all 12 elements, including two successful triple axels, the jump that had been his nemesis. But for a flawed jump competition in the short program, he would have won the gold.

"I have dreamed of skating that kind of performance for so many years," Brown said. "Every time before, it had been `What happened with the triple axel?' I always wondered what would happen if I put it all together."

Brown had caused a sensation in his debut at senior nationals as a 16-year-old, when his dazzling free skate got a standing ovation and a ninth-place overall finish. But he lacked a triple axel, and the question of when he could land one -or even try one - hung over him the next two years as he finished ninth again and then eighth at the U.S. Championships.

"Im really proud of my consistency, but I haven't kept going up," Brown said. "This was a huge confidence jump. Now I can start treating the triple axel as just any jump and begin working on quads. I definitely feel I am ready to move forward now."

Brown knows he would need a quad to have any chance of making the 2014 Olympic team.

"My main goal is 2018," he said. "We have a five-year plan leading to that. It's possible to get there in 2014, but I don't want to focus on that and the quad too much if there would be a risk of getting injured by trying to rush."